As of Friday, Oklahoma’s two largest cities have no mask mandate. City officials say they’re shifting their focus away from “stop the spread” and to vaccines.
"The role of municipal government in halting the spread of the virus has now ended, as it was always meant to," said Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt.
One year, one month and 15 days after he first addressed the city about the oncoming public health emergency, he announced the end of the city’s mask mandate. Tulsa’s mask mandate also ended on Friday.
Holt noted that in its worst times, Oklahoma County was seeing 1,000 new cases daily and about 700 people would be hospitalized across the county. Those figures have fallen by 90 percent. Statewide, the new case average is less than 300 a day.
He said this is a new chapter, when vaccinations take priority.
"As you watch me speak these words right now, you are just a click, a phone call and a short drive away from your vaccination — something people around our planet are desperate for."
Despite abundant vaccine supply, only about a quarter of Oklahoma adults have completed their vaccine series.
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